Method of and apparatus for making glassware



Mardi 6, 1934- J. E. coLLlNs l-:rAL 1,949,899

ME'rxon oF AND APPARATUS FOR' MAKING GLAsswARE March 6, 1934.

J. E. COLLINS x-:r AL 1,949,899 KETHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING GLASSWARE Filed Feb. l. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 351ML Tmp @dented Mar. 6, 19.34

T OFF-ICE masses muon or am APPARATUS ron G omsswaas John E. Collins, Toledo,

McLaughlin, Alton, lll. illinois Glass Company, a

Ohio, and John E. 1:01018 0 Owenscorporation oi' Chio Application February l, 1932, Serial No. 590,184y 9 Claims. (Cl. dil-40) The present inventionY relates to improvements in method of and apparatus for producing glassware such, for example, as bottlesV and jars, and has for an object the provision of means whereby the production of high grade glasswere may be materially increased as compared the present rate oi production.

in operating a conventional form of bottle machine the cycle of operations ordinarily includes the delivery of a mold charge of molten glass to a blank mold in which the glass takes theform ci a blank or parison, transferring the blank or parlson to a nishing mold. the blank to iinal shape of the article being produced, and

` finally opening of the finishing mold for the purpe of discharging the completed article therefrom. The time intervals between these various operations are determined by the quantity of g1ass and distribution thereof in the articles being produced and the period of time required for the molds to extract sufiicient heat trom the articles to insure that upon their discharge from the iinisbing mold they will be sufiiciently rigid to support themselves. An increase in the operating speed of the usual bottle forming machine as the sole means of increasingeproduction, will, almost invariably, result in the discharge of articles of glassware in such plastic condition that they immediately collapse completely or become so distorted that they must be discarded. Artificial cooling of the nishing molds without regard to the extent and points at which the cooling is effected cannot be relied upon to increase productionof high grade glassware. In fact, improper cooling or the nishing molds produces serious defects in the glassware ci such a nature that the ware cannot be marketed. Production of opal glass is one of the most outstanding objectionable results.

An object of the present invention is the provision of an improved method and apparatus whereby the temperature conditions in the iinishing molds may be controlled to such an extent that high grade glassware may be produced at an exceptionally high rate o speed.

.Aiurther object is the provision of an improved method of and apparatus for producing articles of glassware in which the nishing molds are alternately cooled and heated during' each cycle of operations prior to removal of articles of glassware therefrom whereby these articles may be quickly set vthout creating defects of any nature whatever therein. To this end the invention provides for a predetermined degree of rapid artiilcial coollngcf the iinishing molds immediately upon expansion of the articles of glassware therein, discontinuance of this artificial cooling and thereafter some extent of reheating of the mold due to contact with the article of glassware, these cooling and reheating operations taking place just in advance of arrival of the mold at the usual article discharging zone.

Other objects will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter. A.

In the drawings:

1 is a sectional elevational viewI illustrating the embodiment of our invention in one head or mold group of an Owens type of bottle forming machine.

- Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II oi Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing in detail the valve for regulating the now of liquid cooling medium to and from the corresponding nishing mold. 1

Fig. 4 is a plan view illustrating the general arrangement of a nnishing mold and cooling apparatus in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a chart showing substantially the cycle of operations involved in the production of glassware on a machine equipped with our invention.

Figs. 6 to 10 inclusive illustrate the successive substantially operations involved in transforming a parison into a nished article in accordance with our invention.

Fig. 6 shows the unexpanded parison in the nishing mold.

Fig. '7 shows the parison expanded.

Fig. 8 shows a cooling medium in the chambered mold sections.

Fig. 9 shows the completed article in the mold.

Fig. l0 shows the mold open and iinished article supported on the bottom plate.

Although our invention may well be embodied in other types of bottle forming. machines, we have elected to illustrate it in connection with an automatic machine of the Owens suction type such as that disclosed in LaFrance P atent 1,185,

687, June 6, 1916, to which reference may be had for details of construction and operation.

This type o! machine comprisesy a vertical central column l0 upon which a rotary mold carriage 11 is supported. A ring gear l2 at the lower end of the mold carriage runs in mesh with a -driving pinion (not shown) which may receive its power from an electric motor or the like (not shown). Rotation of the mold carriage causes movement of mold groups 13 orj heads in succession past a series .of operating positions corresponding to those involved in the LaFrance patent above identified and including charge gatherpump 29 for each mold group are suitably seing, blank transfer; nal blowing,and article discharging positions, in the order named.

Each mold group 13 may include a blank or parison mold 14 supported on a dipping frame 15 in the usual manner. A finishing mold unit 16 arranged directly beneath the corresponding blank mold includes a finishing mold carrier 17 pivoted at its inner end to horizontal trunnions 18. A sectional finishing mold 19 consisting of two half sections connected to scissor arms 20, as is customary, is arranged on the upper side of the mold carrier at the outer end thereof. A roller 21 on the lower side of the mold carrier 17 rides upon a serpentine track 22 which may be identical in construction and function to the disclosure in said LaFrance patent. The sole purpose of this serpentine track is to control the successive positions of the finishing mold units. In this connection the finishing mold is raised to a level position for effecting transfer of blanks or parisons into and expanding the blanks or parisons to the form of the finished articles. Shortly after final shaping of the articles the finishing molds are lowered so that they will clear the revolving pot or other container of molten glass from which the mold charges are obtained. After the finishing molds have moved beyond the revolving pot, they are ordinarily lifted a short distance so that they will be inclined at the proper angle during the article discharging operation.

For the purpose of rapidly cooling the finished articles while they are in the finishing molds without detrimentally affecting the glass structure or its appearance, provision is made for artiiicial cooling of the finishing molds and some degree of reheating thereof while they aremoving from the final blowing position to the article discharging or take-out position, a distance of approximately According to the present invention this alternate cooling and heating of the finishing molds involves first, rapid artificial cooling of the walls of the finishing molds immediately upon completion of the final blowing or parison expanding operation; second, discontinuance of the forced cooling, and third, reheating of the mold walls to some extent solely due to contact of the walls with the expanded glass articles for a short period of time in advance of the article discharging operation. InA this manner the glass may be more or less full set in the shape desired and the walls of the mold cavities afterward vreheated so that they will not unduly or prematurely,` cool the next parison or parisons enclosed therein. Ihe construction whereby the above results are obtained may be substantially as follows.

Each section of the finishing mold 19 is of hollow formation consisting of an outer wall 23 and arelatively thin inner wall 24, the latter shaped to provide one-half of the mold cavity or cavities 25. walls are connected by closure plates to thereby provide a completely closed chamber. Water or any other suitable cooling medium is supplied to the chambered mold sections under pressure at regular time intervals. For this purpose a water supply'chamber 26 is'provided at the upper end of the mold carriage 11 and has connection through a main pipe 27, control valve 28, rotary pump 29, and a pair of branch pipes 30 to the chambered mold sections. These branch pipes 30 communicate with the chambers in the mold sections through ports 31 at the outer ends of said mold sections. The valve 28 and rotary The upper and lower ends of thesey cured to the lower siddof the mold carriage 11 as by means of an attaching plate 32. The pump 29 may be of conventional form and as shown includes a driving pinion 33` which is designed for operative engagementwith inner and outer arcuate rack bars 34 and 35, respectively, the latter being suitably supported upon the bracket 36 which carries the sepentine track 22. The pinion 33 is adapted to engage the rack bars 34 and 35 one at a time and in succession, said rack bars being spaced apart circumferentially and radially at opposite sides of the path of travel of the pinion. Thus one rack bar will operate the pump to force a cooling medium into the chambered mold sections while the other rack bar serves to reverse the pump operation and `thereby exhaust the cooling medium from said mold sections. These rack bars may be adjustably attached to the bracket 36 by screws 37 or the like fasteners so that the timed relation between operations of the pump may be regulably controlled.

The valve 28 (Figs. 1 and 3) is employed to establish communication between the pump 29 and either the supply pipe 27 or exhaust pipe 38. The valve consists of a casing 39 having a cylindrical chamber 40 therein in which a rotary valve member 41 is arranged. An inlet opening 42 in the valve casing 39 provides communication between the supply pipe 27 and interior of the valve. An exhaust port 43 is provided to establish communication between the interior of the valve and the exhaust pipe 38. At one end of the chamber 40 an outlet opening 44 is formed. 'I'his latter opening (Fig. 3) is disposed in register with an axial opening in the valve member 41, the latter alsov formed with a chamber 45 which in cross section is substantially U-shaped. This chamber has an inlet 46 and an outlet 47 in addition to the axial opening which is at all times in register with the opening 44 through which the water or other cooling medium flows to the pump 29. An operatingy lever 48 is secured to one end of the rotary valve member 41 and carries a roller 49 designed for periodic engagement with a stationary adjustable cam 50 on the bracket 36, said cam adapted to rock the lever and rotary valve member 4l to a position in which the exhaust port 43 leading to the exhaust pipe 38 is closed and communication between thev supply pipe 2.7 and pump 29 is established. A coil spring 51 serves to yieldingly hold the valve in the reverse position to that just described, during a major portion of each cycle of operations. A receptacle 52 of any preferred form is disposed beneath the path of travel of the valves 28 to receive the water or other cooling medium as it is exhausted from the mold sections.

In operation the blank mold 14 will obtain its mold charge of glass from a suitable source of supply in the zone marked G in Fig. 5. This mold moving in a clockwise direction reaches the transfer point Where the mold charge, in the form of a blank or a parison, is transferred to the finishing mold 19. Following a bank reheating period, air under pressure is applied to the initial blow opening in the blank, as is customary, resulting in expansion 'of the glass 1:'

into intimate contact with the walls of the mold cavity. According to the present invention this final expansion is immediately followed by rapid filling of the chambered mold sections with cold water or other suitable cooling medium, as

1,94asaa shown in Fig. 8. Thus considerable heat is extracted from the expanded article. After a predetermined and relatively short period of time this water or other cooling medium is quickly exhausted from the mold sections. Following this removal of the cooling medium from the mold sections, the walls of the mold cavities are reheated to some extent by contact with the expanded article. Afterward the nnishing mold is opened in the usual manner and the completed article discharged by gravity or removed by mechanical means.

As a result of equipping bottle forming machines with apparatus of the above character it is evident that production of blown glassware may be increased considerably without detrimentally affecting the quality oi the ware. The valve control cam 50 as well as the two rack bars 34 and 35, may be adjusted so that the application of cold water or the like, to the molds may be regulabiy controlled to meet the speciiic requirements of the type and size of the glassware being produced. In this connec,

tion it is obvious that a small article of glassware will require a considerably shorter period of cooling than will a comparatively large article. Accordingly, this valve control cam 50 may be adjusted to meet these varying conditions.

In Figs. 6 to 10 inclusive, we have illustrated the successive steps involved in the formation oi' a bottle in Vaccordance with our invention. In Fig. 6 a blank or parison is shown as it appears just after being enclosed in the finishing mold. While in this position and condition, it is reheated for a short period of time prior to the nal blowing operation. In Fig. the blank is shown expanded against the walls of the iinishing mold cavity. In Fig. 8 the water or other cooling medium has been introduced into the chambered mold sections for the purpose o1' accelerating extraction of heat from the walls of the mold cavity and necessarily from 4the expanded article itself. In Fig. 9 the cooling medium has been exhausted from the mold sections to allow some degree ci reheating o! the cavity walls prior to opening of the mold as shown in F18. 10.

Modifications may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

i. The method of producing glass articles which' consists in enclosing a parison in a iinishing mold, expanding the parison against the walls of the mold, alternately lowering and raising the temperature of said walls, and then removing the ilnished article from the mold.

2. The method of producing hollow glass articles which consists in enclosing a parison in a finishing mold, expanding the parison against the walls of the mold, applying a heat extracting medium to said walls, discontinuing application of the heat extracting medium, and after a predetermined time interval removing the article.

3. The method of producing hollow glass articles which consists in enclosing a parison in a finishing mold, completely expanding the parison, applying a liquid cooling medium to the mold, discontinuing such application of the cooling medium to permit a predetermined degree of reheating oi the mold by contact with the expanded article, and then removing the article.

4. In a glassware forming machine, a finishing mold comprising partible cooperating hollow sections, means for 1er-ming and placing a parison in the mold, means for expanding the parison to its final shape in the mold, and automatic means brought into activity after said expansion of the parison for supplying a cooling medium to the. mold sections and after a predetermined time interval removing the cooling medium therefrom prior to removal of the expanded article from the mold.

5. In a glassware forming machine, a finishing mold comprising partible cooperating hollow sections, means for forming and placing a parison in the mold, means for expanding the parison to its iinal shape in the mold, automatic means brought into activity after Asaid expansion of the parison for supplying a cooling medium to the mold sections and after a predetermined time interval removing the cooling medium therefrom prior to removal of the expanded article from the mold, the last named means including a conduit for the cooling medium, a force pump in said conduit, and means for operating said pump to cause movement of the cooling medium in either direction through the conduit. A

6. In a glassware forming machine, a iini'shing mold formed of separable hollow sections, means for forming a parison and placing it in the finishing mold, means for expanding the parison to its final shape in the mold, temperature regulating means for the mold including a source of supply of liquid cooling medium, a conduit connecting said source of supply and the hollow mold sections, a force pump in said conduit for causing movement of the cooling medium in either direction through said conduit, and an automatic valve in the conduit between said source of supply of cooling medium and pump, said valve in one position establishing communication between said source of supply and pump and in another position functioning as an outlet for cooling medium being removed'from the mold sections.

7. In a glassware forming machine, a iinishing mold formed of separable hollow sections, means for forming a parison and placing it in the .iinishing mold, means for expanding theparison in the mold, temperature regulating means for the mold including a source of supply of liquid cooling medium, a conduit connecting said source of supply and the hollow mold sections, a force pump in said conduit for causing movement of the cooling medium in either direction through said conduit, an automatically operating valve in the conduitbetween the source of supply and pump, said valve in-one position establishing communication between said source of supply and pump and in another position functioning as an outlet for cooling medium being removed from the mold sections, and an adjustable cam for operating said valve and in part regulably controlling the period of time during which the cooling medium is in the mold sections.

i 8. In a glassware forming machine, a finishing mold formed of separable hollow sections, means for forming a parison and placing it in the iinishing mold, means for expanding the parison in the mold, temperature regulating means for the vmold including a source of supply of liquid cooling medium, a conduit connecting said source of supply and the hollow mold sections, a force pump in said conduit for causing movement of the cooling medium in either direction through said conduit, an

pump and in another position functioning as an )50 outlet for cooling medium being removed from the mold sections, means for operating said pump including a pinion connected to the pump. a pair oi' rack bars spaced apart and adapted to engage movement of the cooling medium in either direc-v tion through said conduit, an automatically operating valve in the conduit between the source of supply and pump, said valve in one position establishing communication between said source of supply oi' cooling medium and pump and in another position functioning. as an-outlet for the cooling medium being removed from the moldsections, means for operating said pump including a pinion connected to the pump, a pair o! rack bars spaced apart and adapted to engage opposite sides of the pinion one at a time, means to cause relative movement between the pump and the rack bars, and meansfor adjusting the relative positions oi' the rack bars to thereby correspondingly change the time interval between forcing the cooling medium into the mold sections and exhausting said cooling medium therefor.

JOHN E. COLLINS.

JOHN E. McLAUGHLIN. 

